'Welsh children drink more'
Updated on 08 November 2007
Welsh children drink more at an earlier age, exercise less and have body mass index results higher than most Western countries, Wales's top medical adviser has warned in a snapshot of the nation's health.
In his first annual report, chief medical officer Tony Jewell says children's health is significantly worse in poorer areas, where they are more likely to die before their first birthday and less likely to be breast-fed.
Although the overall health of the nation is improving - with better rates of infant mortality and life expectancy - he called for action to tackle the obesity problem, persistent high rates of smoking and a growing binge drinking culture.
The best rates of decayed, missing or filled teeth among Welsh five-year-olds are worse than the British average.
Child poverty in Wales is similar to the rest of the UK, but there is a clear difference in infant deaths between the richest and poorest fifths of the population.
Wales still has a burden of long-term illness from its industrial past and the former mining valleys of the south contain some of the country's most unhealthy communities.
"These are the areas with lowest life expectancy and highest premature mortality," the report says.
It says about a quarter of 13-year-old girls and a third of boys in Wales reported that they consume an alcoholic drink weekly.
Dr Jewell said Wales should think about how it can use the Assembly's increasing law-making powers to deal with binge drinking.
He and his counterparts in the rest of the UK have written to the Treasury to complain about the relative cheapness of alcohol.
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
